Jara?

That's funny.

I was thinking Jara and Raul Rojas....LOL.

Can't say. I've never seen either of them ride.

--Dunbar

True, but McLaughlin took Jara in and Fernando has squandered the goodwill. All good young jocks need to find a start with a reputable barn that gives them mounts. Fact is that Jara does well with very good horses but day in day out, he's average at best.

At best this is just more proof that anyone can win on a good, or the best, horse, and at worst it's very debatable. Jara gave Invasor a poor ride in the Whitney and a questionable ride in the Donn and only because he was on the best horse did he still win. The simple fact is riders aren't that important, and nobody proved this more clearly recently that Jara, especially with Invasor.

He will win, like Alan Garcia, when he has very live mounts, but he will do more to hurt a horse's chances than he ever will to help them. And, from what I hear, he could also learn to be a lot more generous to the barn help should he ever get lucky enough to win a big race in the future.

I agree to a point that any rider can win on the best horse, but having the opportunity to watch Leparoux ride at Turfway on a nightly basis, it's amazing the way he improves the horses he rides. It's very hard to "toss" many of his mounts. He's definitely in my top 6 riders.